Bethesda buys id Software

[samm]

Bugger and ****e. And feck Anyway, right now, I actually stopped caring, by telling myself: Listen, mate, you don't buy games you don't like anyway, and games you could like but have an ugly DRM - those are better to get elswhere. And this principle doesn't change by X buying Y. My company loyalty is tending to 0.

The one thing I'm concerned about is that the bright programmer's mind probably gets lost in such a big company and cannot really innovate or optimise anything anymore because of too many cooks spoiling his excellent broth.

 

[edit]

Haha, rhyme on "tyte" is actually getting censored.

Edited June 24, 2009 by samm

[Mamoulian War]

Lol EA is changing, stop making them the greatest evil ever. Others have take that title already.

 

So this is bad news here. Now id games can only get worse. :|

 

oh yeah... they are changing right... if you missed it, Mythic has just been assimilated, same as did Origin, Bullfrog, Westwood, Maxis before...

[Morgoth]

Well Zenimax hasn't meddled in Bethesda affairs, so we can assume they won't in id affairs either. Still, despite growing fatter now I hope id retains it's nice touch of perfectionism and the superb, hand-crafted leveldesign.

[Majek]

Lol EA is changing, stop making them the greatest evil ever. Others have take that title already.

So this is bad news here. Now id games can only get worse. :|

oh yeah... they are changing right... if you missed it, Mythic has just been assimilated, same as did Origin, Bullfrog, Westwood, Maxis before...

Not the same thing, not yet.

[Purkake]

So this is bad news here. Now id games can only get worse. :|

 

No change there then...

 

Which is why I mentioned indie games and digital distribution. A small company can make awesome games and make money without wasting too much money on XBL, PSN, Wiiware and Steam/whatever.

I've seen this work for puzzle games, platform games, simple arcade games, graphic adventure games. As for complex western CRPGs, I'm not sure I know anyone who's successfully working on that smaller scale other than Jeff Vogel. Otherwise, there are small projects in development whose release dates seem permanently fixed on "when it's done." I don't mean that as a knock against the capability of those guys, it's just that making an Arcanum or a Planescape: Torment takes a hell of a lot of time and more than a handful of people--people who need to be paid if they're going to work on something for "a hell of a lot of time."

 

Making a PS:T or Arcanum would probably cost as much as making an indie game today(it would probably take longer, but indie games aren't made all that fast either), plus you get way more profit on digital distribution. The costs have gone WAY up with this generation, GTA IV was rumored to cost around $100 million with average AAA games being around $30 mil.

 

In case someone didn't get the memo, Activision is the new evil. EA has actually released new original games like Mirror's Edge and is publishing Br

Edited June 24, 2009 by Purkake

[Oner]

Don't forget that a lot/most(?) of that money goes into marketing.

[Purkake]

Don't forget that a lot/most(?) of that money goes into marketing.

 

That doesn't make it any cheaper. Word of mouth and a Steam sale can help boost the sales quite a bit without throwing millions on horrible TV ads and whatnot.

 

It's also interesting how EA focused their Sims 3 marketing on big billboards and the general public instead of the narrow whiny "hardcore". Sims 3 sold 1.4 million in it's first week. And that is on the PC only with the game being pirated weeks before it's release.

Edited June 24, 2009 by Purkake

[Gfted1]

I cant verify the accuracy of this but behold the ten most expensive video games EVAR!

[Oner]

Half-Life 2 cost around 40kk too.

[Purkake]

I cant verify the accuracy of this but behold the ten most expensive video games EVAR!

 

Too Human

 

Are Silicone Knights still in business?

[Mamoulian War]

Because we have so many new games and no sequels. Call of Duty 6: Modern Warfare 2, Final Fantasy XIII and XIV and Guitar Hero: *Crappy Band* say hi!

 

Are you seriously comparing Final Fantasy games which has except the name of few summons and monsters nothing in common and are developed for 5+ more years, with half baked ****s with 1 year development cycle???

[Syraxis]

I cant verify the accuracy of this but behold the ten most expensive video games EVAR!

 

Too Human

 

Are Silicone Knights still in business?

 

Better yet is Dennis Dyack still there?

[Mamoulian War]

I cant verify the accuracy of this but behold the ten most expensive video games EVAR!

 

in 2010 the top 10 will get few changes

[bhlaab]

Well, the news did give us this picture so it cant be all bad

 

[Oner]

Rocket launcher in close combat? Is he insane?

[Mamoulian War]

Rocket launcher in close combat? Is he insane?

 

160% HP 200% Armor... nuff said

[Purkake]

Because we have so many new games and no sequels. Call of Duty 6: Modern Warfare 2, Final Fantasy XIII and XIV and Guitar Hero: *Crappy Band* say hi!

 

Are you seriously comparing Final Fantasy games which has except the name of few summons and monsters nothing in common and are developed for 5+ more years, with half baked ****s with 1 year development cycle???

 

Why yes, yes I am. They are all sequels and FF games are pretty much repeating the same age-old JRPG crap over and over and over again while occasionally changing the combat system.

 

Mirror's Edge might not have been my favorite game, but at least it tried something new, same for Portal and World of Goo. I want more original games and less crap with increasingly bigger numbers on the end.

 

Rocket launcher in close combat? Is he insane?

 

He's still playing Fallout 3

Edited June 24, 2009 by Purkake

[Syraxis]

Why yes, yes I am. They are all sequels and FF games are pretty much repeating the same age-old JRPG crap over and over and over again while occasionally changing the combat system.

 

Why are they even considered RPGs anyway? It's not like you have any freedom to role-play anyway.

[Oner]

Rocket launcher in close combat? Is he insane?

 

160% HP 200% Armor... nuff said

He'll probably do this repeatedly, those ghouls are fast after all.

Edited June 24, 2009 by Oner

[jjc]

It's pretty clear that ZeniMax/Bethesda have ambitions to become a major publishing entity outside of Bethesda's RPG niche: a push including Wet/Rogue Warrior/Brink, and now this.

 

Casting Rourke in R.W. and Dushku in Wet is consistent with their strategy of looking for voice talent with appeal targeted to specific genre fans, and I bet they'll want to continue that practice in titles ranging from New Vegas to Doom IV (or whatever's coming from Id.)

 

Fallout 3's marketing was pretty damn successful, but there was also more to distinguish that game from the bulk of available titles than there is for something like Wet. Look at their approach with Wet: they're trying to inject flavor by appropriating appropriated aesthetics from Rodriguez and Tarantino, referencing a film (Grindhouse) that was a colossal box office failure in doing so. This would seem counter-intuitive to many, but they evidently have faith that there's a sizable enough gaming audience who'll recognize the aesthetic and respond (namely, the guys who bought the Planet Terror DVD.)

 

It will be interesting to see how their upcoming action titles perform, but they now have at least three (relative) safety nets (TES, Fallout, Doom) to fall back on.

[Purkake]

Why yes, yes I am. They are all sequels and FF games are pretty much repeating the same age-old JRPG crap over and over and over again while occasionally changing the combat system.

 

Why are they even considered RPGs anyway? It's not like you have any freedom to role-play anyway.

 

As long as there's at least one weird plushy-thing, a companion who turns evil and one that was evil but turns good along with an overly complex stats system, it's a JRPG.

 

Sorry, I also forgot that they occasionally change the protagonist's hair color, gender and the reason for their generic angst.

Edited June 24, 2009 by Purkake

[Mamoulian War]

Because we have so many new games and no sequels. Call of Duty 6: Modern Warfare 2, Final Fantasy XIII and XIV and Guitar Hero: *Crappy Band* say hi!

 

Are you seriously comparing Final Fantasy games which has except the name of few summons and monsters nothing in common and are developed for 5+ more years, with half baked ****s with 1 year development cycle???

 

Why yes, yes I am. They are all sequels and FF games are pretty much repeating the same age-old JRPG crap over and over and over again while occasionally changing the combat system.

 

Mirror's Edge might not have been my favorite game, but at least it tried something new, same for Portal and World of Goo. I want more original games and less crap with increasingly bigger numbers on the end.

 

oh noes!!! So EA made 1st decent game after Desert Strike and it is setting the example for awesomness to all other companies... LOL

 

If you dont like JRPGs dont play them but comparing them to milking cows with new sequel every year for every console and handheld is ridiculous...

 

I dont like FPSs but i would never compare HalfLife 2 (which is crap for me) to any of these pieces of ****...

Edited June 24, 2009 by Mamoulian War

[Oner]

Why yes, yes I am. They are all sequels and FF games are pretty much repeating the same age-old JRPG crap over and over and over again while occasionally changing the combat system.

 

Why are they even considered RPGs anyway? It's not like you have any freedom to role-play anyway.

-Because that's how japanese people imagine a role playing game, you know, JRPG, as in Japanese RPG?

-Because it has XP and LVL UP

-Because RPGs are diverse anyway

[Purkake]

oh noes!!! So EA made 1st decent game after Desert Strike and it is setting the example for awesomness to all other companies... LOL

 

If you dont like JRPGs dont play them but comparing them to milking cows with new sequel every year for every console and handheld is ridiculous...

 

I dont like FPSs but i would never compare HalfLife 2 to any of that ****s...

 

The EA today is just mildly better than the EA two years ago. This is not about EA or Square Enix.

 

Oh, I don't play them, I just call it what it is. The Japanese game industry has been stagnating for a while now.

 

Maybe that's because Half-Life 2 is a totally different game from HL1 and takes the story forward while introducing a lot of interesting things for the whole genre.

 

Like I said, I didn't like Mirror's Edge, but I appreciate them trying something new, while Final Fantasy games are pretty much the same stuff over and over with higher budgets.

[Mamoulian War]

Oh, I don't play them, I just call it what it is. The Japanese game industry has been stagnating for a while now.

 

They are stagnating, because they spent more than 10 month with developing a game... Of course you sell less, if you spend making the game 5 times longer...

 

Most of the Japanese companies prefer quality over quantity...

 

Maybe that's because Half-Life 2 is a totally different game from HL1 and takes the story forward while introducing a lot of interesting things for the whole genre.

 

The exactly same can be said about Final Fantasy XII for example... I can see that, and it is the least favourite game of the series for me...

Edited June 24, 2009 by Mamoulian War